Earth anchor



June v21, 1938. w. AfHEINRlcl-l ET AL 2,121,757

EARTH ANCHOR Filed Oct. 26, 1936 5 Sheets-Sheet l ArroE/vfv June 2l, 1938. l w` A. HEINRICH r-:T AL 2,121,757

EARTH ANCHOR f Filed 001'.. 26, 1936 3 ShQe'S-Sheet 2 Jig. 4 f7 l 4 Il l] 4J Z J2 i l I3 C Z4 o I R l /m/E/vros www a.'

June 21, 1938. w. A. HEINRICH ET A1.

EARTH ANCHOR Filed Oct. 26, 1936 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented June 21, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE EARTH ANCHOR Application october 26, 1936, serial No. 107,738

8 Claims.

This invention relates generally to earth anchors, and more specifically to earth anchors of the type which include each a plurality of pivoted blades adapted for projection intoundisturbed earth adjacent to a hole formed in the earth which receives the anchor in a folded or collapsed condition, the predominant object of the invention being to provide an improved earth anchor of this type which is provided with blades of such unique shape and arrangement that said blades when in their folded or collapsed condition occupy a minimum of Aspace transversely of the anchor, so that the anchor may be introduced into a relatively small hole formed in the earth, and when expanded provide a maximum of earth-contacting blade surface for securely fixing the anchor in place in the earth.

Another object of the invention is to provide anearth anchor which is provided with a tamp- '20 ing block or head of improved construction and arrangement and with which the blades of the anchor are pivotally associated in an improved manner.

f Still another object of the inventionis to prod vide an improved earth anchor of the type to which this invention relates. which includes improved means for retaining the nut that attaches the base washer of the anchor to the rod thereof in place on said rod.

Fig. 1 is a sectional view taken through the ground showing one of the improved anchors as it appears when in use, the anchor being shown in' elevation.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan View ofthe improved anchor with its blades expanded, the rod of the anchor being shown in section. u 4

Fig. 3 is an inverted plan view of the anchor illustrated' in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a View of the improved anchor shown partly invertical section and partly in elevation,

a portion of the rod of the anchor being broken away. v l

` Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the improvedanohor in a folded or collapsed condition, here also a part of the anchor rod being broken away.V

Fig. 6 is a horizontal section of the anchor taken on line 6 6 yof Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary, horizontal section taken on line 'i-'l of Fig. 4, but with the blades and the base washer shown in plan.

Fig. 8 is a vertical section of the tamping block of the improved anchor.

In the drawings, wherein is shown for the purpose of illustration, merely, one embodiment of the invention, A designates the improved anchor (Cl. 18S- 92) generally. The anchor A includes a tamping block I which is comprised of a pair of elements 2 and 3, the element 2 including a sleeve portion 2' which at its upper end is extended into a tapered opening 3' formed in the element 3, and

trun'nic-n supports 5, which are shown to good advantage in Fig. 8. i

The element 3 includes a top wall 6 which is provided with a plurality of thickened portions 6 adapted to receive tamping blows when the anchor is being expanded in a manner to be hereinafter set forth. Also, the element 3 includes a downwardly extended, rectangular, ymarginal skirt portion 'l which is provided with openings 8 that are alined with the depressions 4 and are of substantially the same width as said depressions.. The lower faces of the portions of the top Wall B of the element 3 which are located between the thickened portions 6 of said top wall contact closely with the upper face portions 2a of the element 2, as shown in Fig. 8, being held in such close contact by the expanded connection between the sleeve lportion 2 of the element 2 and the element 3, while the openings 8 extend upwardly into the thickened portions 6 of said top wall so that the top walls of said openings vare in a slightly higherplane than said upper face portions 2e. At opposite sides of the openings 8 formed in the skirt portions of the element 3 said element 3 isprovided with faces 9 which are complementary to and co-operate with faces l0 formed on the element 2 to provide trunnion bearings which receive and support trunnions which, as will presently appear, are formed on the blades of the anchor. The pairs of co-operating faces 9 and I0 are provided with curved portions which provide for the reception of trunnions of circular cross-sectional shape, whereby said trunnions may be rotatably supported by said faces. i

The embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings includesfour blades Il which are longitudinally curved, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, so as to facilitate projection of said blades into ifo the ground, and at the upper end of each of said blades a neck portion II' of reduced width is provided from which is extended outwardly in opposite directions a pair of trunnions I2. The neck portion I I of each blade I I is extended into the cavity provided in theV tamping block structure by an associated depression ll and opening and the trunnions of such blade are received and supported for rotary movement by the pairs of faces 9 and IU located at opposite sides of said depression and opening. Because of this arrangement the blades l I are mounted for pivotal move,- ment outwardly from the retracted positions in which said blades are shown in Fig. 5 to the expanded/ positions in which said blades are shown in Fig. 4, the narrower neck portions II' of the blades moving into the openings 8 when the blades are moved to their expanded positions. As shown in various of the views of the drawings, the blades are suitably ribbed so as to provide them with the necessary strength to withstand the rather rough usage to which they are subjected. Also each blade is provided on its under or inner surface with a lug I3 which serves a purpose to be hereinafter set forth.

The improved earth anchor A includes a base Washer I4 shaped as shown to the best advantage in Figs. 3 and 4; that is to say, said base Washer includes an annular marginal rim Illa, a centrally located portion ILlb having an opening Illc formed vertically therethrough, and radially extended arms Idd which connect said marginal rim and said centrally located portion I 4b to provide an integral washer structure. As shown in the two views mentioned above, the radially extended arms Idd are suitably ribbed to impart to the washer structure the required strength. It is to be noted that the marginal rim of the base washer is provided with an inclined face I5, and that the blades are provided with lugs I6 which are adapted to contact with said inclined face when the blades are expanded (Fig. 4)

Extended through the sleeve portion 2 of the element 2 of the tamping block I and through the opening |40 formed through the centrally located portion IlIb of the base washer I4 is a rod I1 which is provided at its outer end with an eye I8 adapted to receive a guy or like element I9 to'whch the anchor is attached. The rod I'I at its end opposite to the end thereof at which the eye I8 is located is screw-threaded as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, and a nut 20 is mounted on this screw-threaded portion of the rod, said nut being normally seated in a depression ZI formed in the lower face of the centrally located portion Illb of the base washer I 4. The depression 2| is of the shape illustrated in Fig. 3; that is to say, said depression includes a rectangular central portion Zia from which lateral extensions ZIb are projected in opposite directions. located portion Idb of the base washer is provided also with means for retaining the nut 26 in its seated position in the depression 2 l. This means comprises a substantially U-shaped structure R which is integrally connected at the upper ends of its parallel side members to said centrally located portion Idb, as shown in Fig. 4, the bridge portion of said U-shaped structure being of enlarged, substantially circular formation at its approximate center. The end of the screwthreaded portion of the rod I'l contacts with the enlarged circular portion of the bridge portion of the U-shaped structure, and the nut 29' is seated in the depression 2l when the rod Il is in its proper assembled relation with respect to the The centrally f other parts of the anchor. Thus, because of the contact between the lower end of the rod and the bridge portion of the U-shaped structure R, the rod may not be moved downwardly relative to the base anchor to cause the nut to be freed from the walls of the depression 2I, and said walls of the depression prevent rotation of the nut on the screw-threaded portion of the rod.

In the use of the improved anchor a hole H is dug in the ground, as shown in Fig. 1, and the anchor A is introduced into said hole with the blades thereof in their folded or collapsed positions. If desired, the blades may be wired in their folded positions to the base washer by means of light pieces of Wire (not shown). With the base washer located at the bottom of the hole I-I the thickened portions 6' of the tamping block I are subjected to tamping blows, the first few of which will break the wires and free the blades when said blades are wired to the base washer, as mentioned above. Continuation of the tamping blows moves the tamping block I downwardly with respect to the rod I'I, and because the blades are pivotally attached to the tamping block and are slidably supported by the base Washer, such downward movement of the tamping block causes the free ends of the blades to move outwardly and pass into the undisturbed earth adjacent to the hole H, the longitudinal curvature of the blades assisting projection of the blades into the ground. When the blades have been expanded sufficiently the lugs I3 formed on the blades will pass beyond the marginal face of the base washer and the faces I 3' of said lugs will contact with said marginal face of the base Washer, as shown in Fig. 4, so as to prevent the blades from being withdrawn laterally from the undisturbed earth adjacent to the hole H when upward strains are applied to the rod I'I. Also, when the blades .are expanded as shown in Fig. 4, the lugs I6 on the blades contact with the inclined face I5 of the base washer, as already explained herein.

An important feature of the nut-retaining means R is that the anchor may be churned up and down in the hole H, if this be necessary to force the assembled anchor to the extreme bottom of the hole, without such relative movement between the rod and the base washer as would free the nut 2|] from the depression 2|; this being so because the nut is seated in the depression 2l and the end of the rod I 1 contacts with the bridge portion of the U-shaped structure R. In assembling the base washer and the rod, the nut 20 is introduced into the depression 2I after which the screw-threaded end portion of the rod is screwed through the nut and into contact with the bridge portion of the U-shaped structure R. After the anchor has been secured in the ground by expanding the blades as described, the hole I-I is, of course, filled in with earth.

An extremely important feature of the invention is the particular shape of the blades II as illustrated to the best advantage in Figs. 2, 3, and 5. It will be noted from these Views that each blade is provided with a concave edge portion IIa Fig. 6, which shows that each blade overlaps an adjacent blade and itself is overlapped by still another adjacent blade. By employing blades of the shape illustrated and described, said blades when folded or collapsed occupy a minimum of space transversely of the anchor so that the anchor may be introduced into a relatively small hole formed in the ground, and also when expanded provide a maximum of earth-contacting bladesurface for securely fixing the anchor in place in the ground.

We claim:

1. An earth anchor including a plurality of pivotally supported blades adapted for projection into undisturbed earth adjacent to a hole in the earth which receives the anchor in a blade folded condition, said blades having edges which extend continuously and in an unbroken manner throughout their lengths, each of said blades being disposed in angular overlapping relation with respect to an edge of one blade only of the associated blades when the blades are in their folded condition, and being itself angularly overlapped by still another single blade of the associated blades.

2. An earth anchor including a plurality of pivotally supported blades adapted for projection into undisturbed earth adjacent to a hole in the earth which receives the anchor in a bladefolded condition, said blades having edges which extend continuously and in an unbroken manner throughout their lengths, each of said blades being disposed in angular overlapping relation with respect to an edge of one blade only of the associated blades when the blades are in their folded condition, and being itself angularly overlapped by still another single blade of the associated blades, which contacts with an edge of the rst-mentioned blade.

3. An earth anchor including a plurality of pivotally supported blades adapted for projection into undisturbed earth adjacent to a hole inthe earth which receives the anchor in a blade-folded condition, said blades having edges which extend continuously and in an unbroken manner throughout their lengths, each of said blades being disposed in angular overlapping relation with respect to an edge of one blade only of the associated blades when the blades are in their folded condition, and being itself angularly overlapped by still another single blade of the associated blades which contacts with an edge of the first-mentioned, blade, each of the blades being curved longitudinally, and the edges of said blades which receive other blades in contact therewith being .of corresponding curvature.

4. An earth anchor including a plurality of pivotally supported blades adapted for projection into undisturbed earth adjacent to a hole in the earth which receives the anchor in a blade-folded condition, said blades having edges which extend continuously and in an unbroken manner throughout their lengths, each of said blades being disposed in angular overlapping relation with respect to an edge of one blade only of the associated blades when the blades are in their folded condition, and being itself angularly overlapped by still another single blade of the associated blades which contacts with an edge of the first-mentioned blade, each of the blades being curved longitudinally, and the edges of said blades which receive other vblades in contact therewith being of concave formation.

5. An earth anchor including a plurality of pivotally supported blades adapted for projection into undisturbed earth adjacent to a hole in the earth which receives the anchor in a blade-folded condition, said blades having edges which extend continuously and in an unbroken manner throughout their lengths, each of said blades being disposed in angular overlapping relation with respect to an edge of one blade only of the associated blades when the blades are in their folded condition, and being itself angularly overlapped by still another single blade of the associated blades which contacts with an edge of the first-mentioned blade, each of the blades being curved longitudinally, and the edges of said blades which vreceive other blades in contact therewith being of concave formation, said blades being moved out of their overlapped relation when they are expanded.

6.'An earth anchor including a rod, a tamping block slidably supported by said rod, a plurality of blades pivotally supported by said tarnping block, said tamping block comprising a pair of elementsone of which includes a sleeve portion through which said rod extends, a portion of said sleeve portion of said one element being expanded in an opening formed in the other element so as to secure said elements together, trunnions formed on said blades, and complementary faces formed on said pairs of elements of which the tamping block is comprised which provide bearings for said trunnions.

7. .An earth anchor including a rod, a tamping block slidably supported by said rod, a plurality of blades pivotally supported by said tamping block, said tamping block comprising a pair of elements one of which includes a sleeve portion through which said rod extends, a portion of said sleeve portion of said one element being expanded in an opening formed in the other element so as to secure said elements together, trunnions formed on said blades and extended outwardly therefrom, alined depressions and openings formed respectively in said pair of elements, and complementary faces formed on said pair of elements at opposite sides of said alined depressions and openings which provide bearings for said trunnions.

8. An earth anchor including a rod, a tamping block slidably supported by said rod, `a plurality of blades pivotally supported by said tamping block, said tamping block comprising a pair of elements one of which includes a sleeve portion through which said rod extends, a portion of said sleeve portion of said one element being expanded in an opening formed in the other element so as to secure said elements together, trunnions formed on said blades and extended outwardly therefrom, alined depressions and openings formed respectively in said pair of elements, and complementary faces formed on said pair of elements at opposite sides of said alined depressions and openings which provide bearings for said trunnions, the element which includes the sleeve portion having portions which underlie the trunnions and the associated element having portions which overlie said trunnions.

WALTER A. HEINRICH. CHESTER R. PIEPER. 

